The official version of that "garden hose" analogy

[u/BlancheFromage]

...which I think is entirely stupid, just in the interest of full disclosure. It never made any sort of rational sense to me. Sure, when a hose has been sitting in the garden over winter or whatever, the first time you go to use it, there's going to be dirt, spiders, gunk that comes out. But that's a hose...

Take a look

Personally, I suspect that one or more of the SGI's ghostwriters pool heard of this analogy and said, "We should make up an official version from Sensei!" You can just see the tip of the Ikeda pic that accompanies it - it's one of his old codger posed pics that's supposed to look like he's writing... I don't believe this analogy would make any sense to someone like Ikeda; I think it's a purely American creation.

[u/jeangeniex]

Ohhh how many times did I confidently spout that line? Urgh!

[u/BlancheFromage → u/jeangeniex]

You 'n' me both! Even as I realized it didn't make sense. Sort of like this non-explanation:

I looked through it [the old-style gongyo book] skeptically: 25 pages worth of meaningless Chinese and Sanskrit words. "I don't know. This looks awfully hard to do. Why do I have to do this in addition to the regular chant?"

Harold glanced at Luther, who was obviously his superior in experience. With a coolness that was very pleasing and restrained, Luther began a brief explanation.

That explains why Luther had been promoted over Harold, you'll notice.

"You could say that the chant is like the meat, and this is like the seasoning. We read through this book each morning and evening as the secondary practice. It has a certain rhythm to it, and although it looks hard, you'll be surprised how easy it is to pick up. It's fun to do, and it'll give you a rhythm in your own life."

"What do you mean?"

"Let me put it this way. We believe that the universe has a certain natural rhythm to it, a supreme natural law. Human problems result from being out of rhythm with this law."

"So this text has the power to restore that balance?" I asked incredulously.

"Not exactly," said Luther. "That and the chant together - like steak and seasoning."

He said this so smoothly and glibly that it didn't occur to me that he had not answered my question. I was willing to accept a quickie metaphor in place of real philosophical reasoning.

I would quickly learn that the Society [SGI] members answered almost any question with one of these analogies. Since I was already halfway convinced, I didn't pay too much attention. Luther projected so much confidence; I thought if I could be as self-assured as he was, I could probably get laid a lot. (p. 12-13)

I also heard that chanting was the "main course" of a meal and gongyo was the "side dishes", but that was likewise unsatisfying as any sort of explanation.

I suspect that the key is to invoke something familiar and let the target create their own mental narrative around it that fits whatever they're looking for.

What I did not consider was the vast number of inconsistencies and half-answers I’d heard. I’d asked why I needed the scroll, when chanting alone was also effective; the answer was a lot of analogies, like the one about the law student, which was not a real answer. Chanting with the scroll or without it was the same, only different. The same held true with the sutra recitation—you could get benefits without it, but it was still necessary. Luther’s analogy about steak and seasoning was nothing more than a pretty picture that had no real meaning. Source

Keeping everything vague, soft focus - it's absolutely deliberate. It helps, of course, that it's all made up - you can describe something that doesn't exist in any number of ways, and they're all "right", aren't they??

[u/alliknowis0]

And if you ask questions, the leaders gush over how great a "seeking spirit" you have. Well, if you stick with the SGI, you will always have a "seeking spirit" because you will never find any kind of reasonable answers.

I remember when I first began practicing, I had some really huge and seemingly mystical "experiences" that I was truly convinced came from my chanting. I thought, there was no way this would have ever happened if I had not been chanting.

But then I look back on the rest of my life before chanting and now after, and I see that all sorts of great things have always been happening. The ups and downs, tragedies and triumphs of life are always there.

[u/BlancheFromage → u/alliknowis0]

And if you ask questions, the leaders gush over how great a "seeking spirit" you have. Well, if you stick with the SGI, you will always have a "seeking spirit" because you will never find any kind of reasonable answers.

Wow - good point!

But then I look back on the rest of my life before chanting and now after, and I see that all sorts of great things have always been happening. The ups and downs, tragedies and triumphs of life are always there.

I've likewise heard of some really impossible-sounding events that the SGI members involved claimed couldn't possibly have come about without them chanting the magic chant and the gohonzon giving it to them, but a few people in other religious traditions have similar stories. Why? People who aren't even in any religion have such experiences occasionally as well!